


Dastardly Lemondrops

by masaothedog



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-07
Updated: 2013-05-07
Packaged: 2017-12-10 16:20:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/788035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masaothedog/pseuds/masaothedog





	Dastardly Lemondrops

He apparated when everyone else did. Unlike the others, however, he didn't go far. He never did after he saw people hurt or killed. He felt like a coward for not helping before the others left, but he was not ready to risk his life for people he sometimes didn't even know very well, even if it did make him feel terribly selfish. This time, though, he did know the victims. They were not his favourite people in the world. He was outside when Voldemort killed them, but he heard their screams. It made him sick—he had recognised their voices. Of course, he knew all along who was going to be attacked that night. It hadn't felt real during the planning, though, and it didn't feel real then either.

Severus stood outside of Godric's Hollow, frozen in shock. He was afraid to walk inside and see the dead within. Since the Death Eaters had started bringing him on these raids, he assigned himself the duty of secretly cleaning up after them. He couldn't help but think of the fact the victim's family would probably be the first ones to find them if he didn't do this. It was a penance, however small.

Cold, wet wind shook him from his stupor. It had been storming on and off all night, and the sound of thunder told him that it would start again soon. It was becoming a choice of seeing more corpses inside or standing in the storm outside. He'd much prefer the storm, but his guilt compelled him to enter the house. He took his mask off first. It was an act of respect. He would have taken off his left arm as well if he could have. His hand shook as he opened the door.

Expecting the stillness that he always met after a house's occupants were killed, he jumped back and drew his wand when there was quick and frantic movement in the darkness. His heart was pounding and he backed into the door frame in case he needed to make an escape. Could they have survived, he wondered? The disturbance ended as quickly as it had started. Severus whispered a quick lumos and found himself looking into an apparently empty foyer. He waited for a moment before cautiously stepping into the house. Once more he heard something moving, but this time he could see the dark shape of a house cat scurry across the floor. His body relaxed with his relief. It was only the Potters' cat.  
The adrenaline of the feline confrontation urged him on to find the bodies so that he could call someone to come handle them before being on his way. He walked through the house, looking for the room where he thought they were, opening any door he came across. He had never been in this house, but it wasn't long before he reached the room.

Blood pounded in his ears as he opened the door. His whole body tingled when he took in two dark shapes on the floor. Another lumos revealed the victims. To his dismay, they lay face-up, their faces still twisted in fright. He blanched and looked away to gain his composure. These were people he knew. Dead. He thought he might be sick at any moment.  
When he looked again, he noticed the crib in the room. Of course. Lily had had her baby about a year before. A boy. Harry. There was no sound from the crib; of course Voldemort would have been thorough. Severus didn't like looking at dead children, and he made no move to bring himself closer to the crib. He took one last look at James and Lily, lying on the floor. They were his age. Curious and still in shock, he knelt down to look at them more closely. Their faces were still eerily frozen. At least, he thought, their eyes were closed. He was already going to have nightmares from this as it was.

'Sorry,' he whispered, looking at James. He remembered the talk they had had at Grimmauld Place almost two years ago. Until that point, he had never seen Potter look vulnerable. He remembered the look of hurt on Potter's face. After all of the years of torment at Hogwarts, that one look was what Severus thought of when he looked at the prone body. He looked then at Lily. He had been so angry at her. He had resented her so much he could hardly stand to look at her before. Now she was gone, and he felt guilty. Did he really have any right to be angry with her? Thunder clapped outside and he jumped. He stood to leave when he heard a sound that gave him gooseflesh.

He whipped his head around towards the direction of the sound. A tiny groan. Severus fought the urge to run away as the voice, unmistakeably human, groaned again. It was the stirrings of an infant: one who sounded to be in pain.

'Impossible,' he whispered. In a macabre scene like this, he reasoned, people imagined strange, frightening things. But if he left now, and the child was alive, he would be abandoning it. Biting down hard on his lip and gripping his wand, he walked over the dead bodies of his former classmates and peeked into the cot. Inside, the baby looked dazed and its eyes were unfocused, but it was, without a doubt, alive.

'Shit!' he hissed, reaching in to pick up the child, gripping him to his chest. He noticed the horrible looking mark on the baby's forehead. He was injured. Severus nearly tripped over the baby's dead parents as he ran to the fireplace. He firecalled the one person he knew could help. Albus Dumbledore. The storm outside raged as he waited for the man to answer.

'Severus?' he asked sleepily when he finally did.

'Headm_... Albus,' he said. 'V-voldemort has just attacked the Potters. He's killed them. But their child. Somehow, he's survived.' His voice was shaking so badly he had trouble communicating.

'Thank goodness!' was Albus's response. It seemed odd that the old man didn't seem to mourn for his former students, but Severus was too upset to question it at the time. The shock was fading, and Harry was coming to. He was beginning to whimper. 'I'll go get Poppy. I'll be right there.'

That's when Harry started to cry. Severus cradled him as best as he could, but his own breaths were becoming ragged. This was too much for him. He had never hated Regulus so much in his life, but Regulus was dead, too.

'It's all right, brat,' he whispered, trying to comfort the crying thing in his arms. He had no idea what to do with a baby, though. For all he knew, the way he was holding it or the way he was talking to it was making things worse. 'Baby, no. It's all right'. He looked at the thing. One thought came to the front of his chaotic mind. This was not James Potter's child. Sure, he shared enough features to pass as his son. Wild black hair, a face that echoed Potter's classically handsome face. But Severus knew without a doubt as he looked at the baby that he got that black hair and those comely features from another man. He wondered if James had known.

When Albus appeared with Poppy, Severus was still standing there, studying the baby in his arms. Poppy pried it away from him. Severus was reluctant to give the baby up. When he saw that he was not James's child, he felt like he should have some claim over him. Of course, he didn't.

'Poppy, take him back to Hogwarts and tend to him,' Albus ordered after taking a moment to look at the baby, his blue eyes intense. Severus thought that something about the older man seemed strange that night. He didn't appear to be upset at all. Poppy disapparated, taking Harry with her. Albus turned to walk directly to the nursery. It would occur much later to Severus to wonder how Albus knew exactly where to go.

'What should I do?' he asked. He assumed Albus would have told him by now. The headmaster turned around, adjusted his half-moon glasses, and stroked his beard. He considered Severus very carefully for a few moments. 'Go back to Hogwarts. Go to your quarters. Don't talk to anyone until I have a chance to speak with you about this.' With that, Albus turned again and walked to the nursery.

Severus lay in his bed at Hogwarts with little memory of how he had got there. He vaguely remembered being sick outside of the castle and then showering. Now he just lay there, shaking. He had candles lit around the cold, dungeon bedroom because he didn't want to be in the dark. Already, every time he closed his eyes, he saw their faces. Those horrible faces, filled with grotesque fear. Worse, he heard the baby's groans. There was no way he was getting any sleep that night.  
Several hours went by before he heard someone enter his quarters. He didn't move as Albus came into his bedroom. The old man's garish yellow and purple robes seemed disgustingly inappropriate.

'You were right to call me last night,' he said, sitting on a chair near Severus's bed. He spoke softly, and Severus was glad for that fact; his head was pounding. 'Poppy was able to save little Harry. He was undamaged by any magic, but he had a concussion.' Severus didn't respond. Albus cleared his throat.  
'He has recovered. He was brought to his aunt and uncle's house in Surrey.' Surprised to hear this, Severus sat up on his bed. How could Albus send the child to live with muggles when Sirius Black was his godfather?

'But Black. The boy's godfather is_' Albus held up his hand to silence him.

'I'm afraid it was Mr Black that betrayed the secret of James and Lily's location. He... also murdered several people today in_'

'No!' Severus protested. He refused to believe it. Not after everything that had happened in the last few years. There was no way Sirius would ever do anything like that, and Severus knew it. They may not have got along, but he knew Sirius was not capable of doing such a thing.

'I'm afraid so, Severus,' Albus said sternly. 'I didn't come down here to talk about this. I need to tell you about something else that happened last night. Somehow, Voldemort was killed. It happened shortly after he left Godric's Hollow.' The words didn't register with Severus just then. There was too much happening that didn't make sense to him.

'I want to go home,' he whispered. He wanted to hide away from all of this. He wanted to wake up in his mother's house and realise this was all an insane dream.

'That's not possible, my boy,' Albus said. His voice was no longer gentle. 'You need to stay at Hogwarts. With Voldemort gone, the Death Eaters will be in chaos. Their actions will be unpredictable.' Albus said more to him, but he didn't hear it. He was exhausted and confused. When the headmaster got up to leave, Severus put his head back down on his pillow. He stared at the dark stone wall of his bedroom and tried to make himself believe he was looking at the champaign wallpaper of his bedroom in his mum's house. He pictured the window there: one through which he could see grey clouds hanging low over emerald green hills. As he fell asleep, those green hills he imagined became Harry's green eyes, filled with uncertainty.


End file.
